AMAN JAIN, Director, Kalash Gold And Ornaments Private Limited, discusses the company’s progress through its involvement in the IIJS shows and outlines initiatives undertaken to enhance sustainability and environmental practices.
Tell us more about your company.
Kalash Gold & Ornaments Pvt Ltd was established in 2003, a leading manufacturer of Turkish, Italian and CZ jewellery. It was started by my father, Dilkhush Jain.
After completing my Masters in Management at ESSEC Business School, France, I joined the company in 2021 headquartered in Mumbai.
We serve clients pan-India and export internationally to over 10 countries. With an extensive 20 member R&D team and 200+ in-house karigars, our designs are updated daily to fulfil market demands. Owing to our faithful partnerships, we strive to create the highest standard of customer service.
How has IIJS helped your company grow?
IIJS has helped us grow our business exponentially, by making it a one-stop shop for all our customers to view our latest collection and a forum to connect with new leads. We have been able to showcase our brand at a platform that is visited by thousands of buyers and hence it gives us the required exposure we need. It has been 18 years since we have been associated with IIJS and we have participated in all the editions like IIJS Premiere, Signature and Tritiya.
According to you, what are the current trends or innovations do you anticipate at the IIJS Premiere 2023?
IIJS brings with it the promise of new trends and innovations each year, whether it is in jewellery, manufacturing process, or even stall layouts. Our anticipation for this edition is that there will be an increase in demand for lightweight jewellery.
We have also noticed a significant increase in the demand for traditional jewellery compared to trendy pieces. In order to streamline our operations and improve efficiency, we are encouraging customers to place their orders through our company’s applications instead of relying on the traditional pen-and-paper method. By adopting this modern approach, we anticipate a substantial increase in the number of orders received within a much shorter time frame.
What are your thoughts about sustainability and ethical practices?
The core mantra of Kalash is to be upfront and transparent about all dealings. We like to apprise our customers with detailed information of their orders, whether it is the knowledge of karat of gold used, the process undertaken to manufacture the same, the stage of process their order is in or updates about what the brand will do next.
Keeping in mind that our efforts always have an impact on the environment, we have reduced our paper usage for most of our operations — whether it is order taking, or message delivering or internal communications.
Has IIJS helped you grow your export business?
IIJS has been a great promoter of our services abroad so much so that we have started exporting to 5 continents today. Upon looking inwards, our target market in the domestic region would be south of India. Having successfully tapped the northern market, this seems like the obvious next step for Kalash.
How many collections do you bring out in a year?
We are very precise and meticulous about our launches and hence we only bring out about 3 to 4 collections a year, with subsequent and continuous innovations keep adding jewellery pieces in those segments throughout the year.
What kinds of crafts are you promoting through your collections?
Since its inception, Kalash has worked with local karigars and artisans to promote their craft and keep alive the magic of Indian workmanship. More recently, we have launched a new kids jewellery collection called LUNA that is heavily dependent on meena work, thereby promoting the art and craft of meena karigars to the world.
Anything else you may wish to add.
There are a lot of political changes that affect companies in one way or another. However, the most prominent one for us has been the implementation of GST in the gold industry where Kalash has been able to improve its business and increase sales by 35% year-on-year.